Process of distilling bitumen



July 26, 1932. E LQFF 1,868,735

PROCESS OF DISTILLING BITUNEN Original Filed Dec. 18, 1925 Patented July26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GUSTAV EG-LOFI', OF cmcaco,ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB T UNIVERSAL OIL PRODUCTS COHPANY, OI CEICAQO,ILLINOIS, A OOBPOBLTIOK OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

PROCESS OF DIS'IILLING Application filed December 18, 1925, Serial No.76,178. Renewed October 7, 1889.

derived thereby, and-is more particularly.

adapted to the distillation of bituminous materials, such as coal,asphaltic materials, tars or the like, in the presence of air, steam, anheated petroleum. As far as I am aware, I produce certain new roductsfrom the use of the process hereina er set forth.

First, I produce a lar e tfiiantity of incondensible as sufiiciently igin heat units as to be adapted for industrial purposes 111 burning, andthus avoiding any or much enrichment of the gas.

Second, I produce a motor fuel having anti-knock properties, in that itcontains a considerable percenta e of nitrogen and phenolic compounds,an saturated with aromatic hydrocarbons.

Third, I roduce alcohols, aldehydes and or anic aci ourth, I produce abed of bituminous material, such as coke which has been largely freed ofits evaporable hydrocarbonaceous constituents. Y

The invention will be more readily understood from the accom anyingdrawing, m which the single figure s ows a somewhat dlagrammatic View,partly in side elevation and partly in verticalsectlon.

Referring to the drawing, 1 designates a furnace in which is mounted asuitable heating coil 2. Oil is fed to the coil through feed line 3connected to raw oil pum 4, leading to any suitable source of su ply notshown) as, for example, gas oil or uel oil.

The oilfrom the coil passes through transfor line 5, controlled bythrottle valve 6 to a combustion chamber 7, which chamber is preferablyinternally insulated as shown at 8. Any liquid residue may be drawn offof the chamber 7 through the drawofi pipe 9 controlled by the throttlevalve 10.

Va ors pass out of the upper end of'the cham er 7 through vapor line 11,controlled by throttle valve 12, and then to the lower part of adephlegmator 13. The reflux condensate is drawn out through the lowerpart of the dephlegmator through pipe l4 .controlled by throttle valve15, which pipe 14 1s preferably provided with a reflux pump 16,

whereby the reflux condensate is returned to the heating coil 2 via thefeed line 3. If desired, the reflux condensate ma be drawn out of thesystem through branc pipe 17 by suitably manipulating the'valves 18, 15and 19, as will be clearly seen from the drawing.

Steam, saturated or superheated, is introduced into the lower part ofthe chamber 7 through steam line 20 controlled bythrottle valve 21 andleading to any source ofsteam supply (not shown). Similarly air may beforc into the chamber 7 by means of air' pipe 22, having throttle valve23 and connected to air pump 24.

The vapors which are not liquefied in the dephle ator pass out of theupper end thereo through pipe 25 controlled by throttle valve 26, whichpipe 25 leads to condenser coil 27, which in turn connects to receiver28. This receiver 28 is provided with H uid drawofi pipe 29 controlledby throttleva vs 30 and gas outlet pipe 31 controlled by valve 32. Theas holder 33 is also provided and connecte d to the gas outlet pipe 31.

The process may be earned out as follows: Bituminous material, such as,for example, coal is charged into the insulated chamber 7, fuel oil isfe through the line 3 to the heating coil 2, where the 011 is heated toa transfer temperature of say, 800 deg. F. The oil passes into the bedof coal and tends to dissolve out some of the hydrocarbonaceousmaterial, and also to distil ofi' some of the same.

At the same time regulated uantities of air are introduced into the bed0 coal which air acts chemically to promote combustion and burn some ofthe coal and some of the petroleum.

At the same time steam is introduced into the chamber 7, and the actionof the highly heated contents of the chamber breaks down the steam intohydrogen and carbon monoxide. The temperature of the contents of thechamber7 may run as high as say 1800 deg. F., or more.

- The petroleum oil vapors, the vapors from the hydrocarbonaceousconstituents of the coal, together with the gases formed from breakingdown the steam, as well as other fixed gases formed by the operation,all pass into the dephlegmator, Here the heavy constituents which arenot sufliciently cracked are condensed, the amount of condensationdepending upon the temperature at which it is dephlegmated. The refluxcondensate is drawn out of the lower part of the dephlegmator and may bere-run through the coil 2, or carried ofl to storage or elsewhere.' Theuncondensed vapors pass through the condenser into the receiver, whilethe incondensable gas goes to the gas holder shown in the drawing.

By means of the present process I produce the various products stated inthe earlier part of the specification, and it is not necessary to againrepeat them.

As a feature of the process, instead of operating an atmospheric orsuperatmospheric pressure, I operate part of the s stem under a vacuum.accomplish this y inserting between the gas holder 33 and the gas outletpipe 31 a vacuum pump 34. I may maintain the oil in the coil 2 under apressure of say 1000 pounds, and by suitably controlling the valve 6 andoperating the vacuum pump 34, I can maintain a vacuum of, say, from 20to 28 inches of mercury. I, of course, control the air pump 24 relativeto the vacuum pump 34, so as not to interfere with the vacuum. By theuse of the vacuum I produce a much larger percentage of fixed gas at thetemperature to which the contents of the chamber 7 are subjected thanwould be the case where it operates at atmospheric or superatniosphericpressure.

I claim as my invention;

1. A process of treating solid bituminous material, consisting inpassing petroleum oil through a heating zone where it is subjected tocracking conditions of temperature and pressure, passing the highlyheated 011 into a zone of combustion maintained in a chamber containingsolid bituminous material, introducin g steam and air into the zone ofcombustion in said bituminous material, and maintaining the quantity ofair and the temperature to which bitumen is subjected suiliciently highto break down the steam and produce substantial quantities ofhydrocarbon fixed gases, and maintaining a vacuum on the bitumen duringsuch treatment.

2. A process for producing liquid products from solid bituminousmaterial, characterized by their content of phenolic compounds,alcohols, aromatics and unsaturated hydrocarbons, comprising charging amass of the bituminous material into a closed chamber, separatelyheating a supply of hydrocarbon liquids to a cracking temperature,admitting such hydrocarbon liquids, while at a cracking temperature,into said mass of bituminous material, continuously taking oil vaporousconstituents generated from the hydrocarbon liquids and bituminousmaterial in said closed chamber therefrom, recovering the liquidproducts desired from such vaporous constituents during the operation ofthe process, subjecting the bituminous material and hydrocarbon li uidsin said closed chamber to the action 0 steam while said materials aremaintained under a vacuum, and maintaining a controlled combustion ofportions of the bituminous material and hydrocarbon liquids in a portionof said mass, air and said hydrocarbon liquids being introduced intosaid portion of the mass.

3. A process which comprises independently heating a hydrocarbon liquidto cracking temperature under pressure, then dischargin the heatedliquid, without separation o vapors therefrom, into a portion of saidmass of solid bituminous material, simultaneously introducing steam andair into said portion of the mass and effecting partial combustiontherein, to produce fixed gases, controlling the reaction in said massto form condensible vapors in addition to said gases, removing thevapor-gas mixture and separating the vapors from the gases bycondensation.

4. A process which comprises independently heating a hydrocarbon liquidto cracking temperature under pressure, then discharging the heatedliquid, without separation of vapors therefrom, into a portion of saidmass of solid bituminous material, simultaneously introducing steam andair into said portion of the mass and efi'ecting partial combustiontherein to produce fixed gases, controlling the reaction in said mass toform condensible vapors in addition to said gases, removing thevapor-gas mixture and subjecting the same to dephlegmation to condenseheavier fractions thereof as reflux condensate, utilizing saidcondensate as at least a portion of said hydrocarbon liquid, and furthercooling said mixture to separate the remaining uncondensed vapors fromthe gases.

5. A process which comprises independent- 1y heating a hydrocarbonliquidto cracking temperature under pressure, then discharging the heatedliquid, without separation of vapors therefrom, into a portion of saidmass of solid bituminous material maintained under sub-atmosphericpressure, simultaneously introducing steam and air into said portion ofthe mass and effecting partial combustion therein to produce fixedgases, controlling the reaction in said mass to form condensible vaporsin addition to said gases, removing the vapor-gas mixture and separatingthe vapors from the gases by condensation.

6. A process which comprises independently heating a hydrocarbon liquidto cracking temperature under pressure, then discharging the heatedliquid. without separation of vapors therefrom, into a portion of saidmass of solid bituminous material maintained under sub-atmosphericpressure, simultaneously introducing steam and air into said portion ofthe mass and effecting partial combustion therein to produce fixedgases, controlling the reaction in said mass to form condensible vaporsin addition to said gases, removing the vapor-gas mixture and subjectingthe same to dephlegmation to condense heavier fractions thereof asreflux condensate, utilizing-said condensates as at least a portion ofsaid hydrocarbon liquid, and further cooling said mixture to separatethe remaining uncondensed vapors from the gases.

7 A process for simultaneously heating a hydrocarbon liquid and aquantlty of bituminous material, which comprises the maintaining of amass of bituminous material in a closed chamber, the heating of thehydrocarbon liquid to a cracking tem erature in a separate zone,subsequently ringing the heated hydrocarbon liquid into physical contactwith the bituminous material by introducing it into the lower portion ofsaid closed chamber, removing vaporous constituents generated from theoil and bituminous materials from said closed chamber and, during theoperation of the process, subjecting the bituminous material and heatedhydrocarbon liquid in said closed chamber to the action of steam andcontrolled combustion by introducing thereto controlled quantities ofsteam and air.

GUSTAV EGLOFF.

